World Mover and World Forsaker
by Indigo Tantarian
Summary: entry for Chibizoo's contest Shadi's thoughts on life, his duties, and the occurences on Battle Ship when he came to visit AU from my normal Shadi


Title:  World Mover and World Forsaker  
  
Username:  Indigo Tantarian  
  
Rating:  PG-13, at worst.  Only a bit of mild cursing, really.  
  
Category:  Angst/Psychological  
  
Author's Notes:  I've discovered that Shadi is quite shamefully overlooked in all fanworks.  This is slightly AU from the Shadi I normally write, but it was begging to be done.  It helps if you've seen episodes 48 and 85, but I guess it isn't vital.  It also helps if you've read my previous Shadi stories, but again, I think you can get by without it. And now, tremble at the paradox and catalyst that is Shadi.  There's a lot of mystery surrounding the Items' Guardian, and here's one way of looking at him.  
  
Or a few ways.  
  
Translations (things the less Japanesely inclined might not know):  
  
Sennen = Millennium  
  
-sama = Honored, Master, etc.  
  
Disclaimer:  I do not own anything!  Just this story and my other ones.  I'm poor, don't sue me!  Kazuki Takahashi owns Yu-Gi-Oh, and Arthur O'Shaughnessy owns "We are the Music Makers," which I used some lines from, including the title of this piece.  I also took the idea of humans being the power between light and darkness from "Slayers: TRY."  
  
-  
  
World Mover and World Forsaker  
  
-  
  
  The first thing to expect of the Guardian of the Sennen Items is observation.  I look on from the side, always watching, gathering information.  Rarely acting on what I have seen.  It is simply not my place.  I am not a mover or a shaker, for it is not my nature.  Nor is is my duty.  I watch, I listen, and I guard.  This is my place in life.  
  
  The only other thing of note about my role as the Items' Guardian is that I cannot merely stand by and watch the world.  I set the wheels of fate in motion.  I leave change in my wake, for good or for ill.  My simple actions move worlds and shape destinies.  Empires rise or crumble and men live or die, though they all must die eventually.  Fate will run its course, helped along by ones such as me, and all will come to pass as it should.  
  
  I do not brag, I merely speak the truth.  I do not take pride in all that I do, but I must carry out my duties as I have since the gilded age of Egypt.  
  
  Yes, the "gilded" age, not "golden."  For when the sparkle of a world recently saved from certain doom flaked away, only suffering and political unrest remained.  A dynasty ended in ruin, and within a few generations, it was gone from the memories and records of the living.  
  
  Only I remained.  The Pharaoh, before his own death, entrusted me with the task of guarding his power and greatest treasures, the Sennen Items.  Each has had many owners over the past three millennia.  I myself have come to possess both the Ankh and the Scales.  Aided by the Pharaoh's gift of immortality, I alone carry out this task.  I take servants occasionally, but only for mundane purposes.  They see me as a dark and forbidding presence, and I maintain that image, for it suits me and my position well.  
  
  I will certainly not bore you with a tale of terrible loneliness.  It would do no good.  Perhaps the first few decades, watching my few friends and family members age and die around me were difficult.  I myself have not aged since my late twenties.  But I would not be so foolish as to want mortal companionship.  Humans die quickly.  Only I go on.  Sometimes I speak to my Ankh and Scales, though I am not certain if they hear and answer, or if I am talking to myself.  But after so long, I would not welcome another's company, even were there another such as I.  I have adapted to and embraced my solitude, and human contact is often a source of great discomfort to me. Oh, companionship?  It is a mere habit that humans pick up to ensure the continuation of their species.  As I said, I have broken that useless habit.  
  
  Humans are social creatures for three reasons:  defense, assistance in survival, and reproduction.  Between my own skills and those of my Items, I am well-defended.  I can find my own food and shelter without aid.  And I have neither desire nor need to continue my bloodline.  Am I truly human, then…?  I have often questioned that myself.  
  
  Despite my ways and wishes though, I was not chosen to keep the Sennen Items from all human contact.  I must go into the world to distribute and watch over them as well.  It is there that I move and shape Fate.  Twice now, I have met the young boy who solved the Sennen Puzzle and began the process of restoring the Pharaoh.  The first time, a shift in the Great Balance drew me to seek out the thief who stole the Sennen Eye from one Pegasus J. Crawford.  The first ones I found were the Pharaoh and his young host, one Yuugi Muto.  After getting past many strong mental defenses, I had neither time nor desire to go into a more lengthy explanation after my first attempt.  I merely gave the helpful boy a brief "chosen one" speech and left with the knowledge that he would learn in time, and that we would meet again.  
  
  The circumstances of our next meeting were different.  I arrived on the large airship called "Battle Ship," that contained every Sennen Item and God Card.  It was time to explain the birth of the modern-day God Cards to the Pharaoh.    
  
First however, I found myself sidetracked. As I appeared on the air-ship's roof, I noticed a hand hanging on to the railing for dear life.  It was none of my concern, but I must admit that I was curious as to what a person might be doing down there.  It ended up being a tall boy with a single spike of brown hair clutching the rail.  He was shouting at another boy with long black hair in a ponytail, who clung to his other hand.  It appeared that the first boy could not hold on for much longer.  
  
  I have been called cruel on occasion.  I merely follow Fate, cruel as it may be.  When a person has very little impact on the legacy I protect, I am not obligated to either help or hinder him.  It is not my place to affect every life, but to watch most and shape a select few.  These two certainly would not affect the Great Balance much.  
  
  Be that as it may, I leaned over the railing and grabbed the boy's wrist as he was about to let go.  He was shocked at my presence, of course.  Very few people are not.  I pulled him and the other boy up onto the deck of the blimp, then I walked away unseen as they caught their breath and tried to thank me.  The last thing I heard was one of them speaking.  
  
  "We were saved by a man in white… …An angel…"  
  
  That was enough to stop me in my tracks.  I stood, silent, cloaked in invisibility, as they went back inside.  
  
  I have been called many things over the centuries.  A devil, a freak, a bastard, a misborn spawn of any number of evil gods.  I have been cursed in every language I have ever heard for answering only to Fate.  This does not concern me:  I have grown to think of them as titles in a sense.  I have helped some and ruined others, and I am awarded anything from the barest civility to undying hatred.  I play the part of the demon much more readily than that of the angel.  Despite what I am told, I suppose I must be somewhere between an angel and a demon.  But what is between darkness and light?  Humanity?  Could I still be human after so long?  
  
  'No, probably not,' I decided with a shake of my head.  I am the Guardian.  I am apart from humanity.  There are angels, humans, and demons.  And myself.  I am merely Shadi, servant of Fate.  
  
  Having wasted enough time in my own thoughts, I visited the Pharaoh and his vessel, the boy to whom I told my name.  I left him before all his questions were answered, as is my way.  He will learn in time…  
  
  As I passed through the well-lit corridors unseen, I heard the two boys from the roof speaking excitedly to some others.  
  
  "It was a man in white robes!  He pulled us up!"  
  
  "Eh?  You mean like a ghost!?"  The voice sounded frightened.  I almost smiled at it.  That reaction was more what I was used to, and definitely more accurate.  
  
  I visited Isis Ishtar before I left.  She knows me better than any other, though that is not saying a great deal.  She was noticeably worried.  The fate of her brother, who had gone from innocent to insane, concerned her greatly.  I listened to her worries, but left before she could ask for advice or comfort.  I have none.  The boy is following fate as I do, despite the grief it causes many people, himself included.  Isis would like him to turn back to serving the Pharaoh, but such is not his destiny.  Even she does not understand this as I do, or as her brother seems to.  
  
  I made one final stop before I left again for my home in Egypt.  In a darkened room, I could sense four presences but only two bodies.  A girl with short brown hair and blank brown eyes stood beside the bed, the Sennen Ring in her hands.  In the bed lay a boy with long, slightly spiky white hair.  I recognized him as the chosen of the Ring.  Both children reeked of the Rod and its host, Mariku Ishtar.  I came to stand beside the girl and glanced at her for a moment, though neither mortal child saw me.  Such ordinary mortals often have no resistance to the Items' powers.  I frowned, mildly annoyed at such an easily controlled mind.  
  
  Then the boy in the bed captured my attention.  He looked slightly disconcerted in his sleep.  Mariku and the Ring's spirit coexisted with him in his mind.  I could sympathize with the power struggle within the boy, though I was still unsure of whether the voices I heard came from my Items or my own subconscious mind.  
  
  \\Oh, you're cracked.  No doubt about that.\\  The voice I thought of as the spirit of the Scales was sarcastic as ever.  \\You're wasting time!\\  
  
  //Don't say such things…//  What could have been the Ankh spirit's voice was soft and sincere.  //You know it's not true, Shadi-sama.  Do not listen.//  
  
  I frowned at the two voices, and at the unconscious boy before me.  This was his destiny.  Destiny must be followed.  
  
  My frown deepened to a glare.  Destiny must be obeyed, but this was not right.  Destiny did not include this.  The Ring may control its host, but he had nothing to do with the Rod.  
  
  Drawing on my Items' powers, I snapped the Rod's control over the boy.  There was an outraged cry from one end of the connection, and an exclamation of relief from the other end.  I withdrew from the now more peaceful mind and turned away, fading into limbo as I departed.  Mariku would be angry, but learning more patience would greatly benefit him.  
  
  …"Benefit"?  I rarely bother with what will benefit anyone.  Truly, I have been among these humans far too long.  I am the observer, not the changer.  I am the changer, but I myself do not change.  It simply cannot be…  
  
  …But denial does not become me.  No one is unchanging, human or otherwise.  I indulge my own musings far too much.  Having distributed all of the Sennen Items though, there is little else for me to do.  I fear that when the Pharaoh returns to power, I shall become entirely obsolete.  With nothing to guard, and the eternal curse of immortality, what is there for me to do?  Perhaps the Pharaoh will give me another task.  Or perhaps I will wander the Earth, without a purpose.  
  
  Could I make my own purpose?  Would Fate allow me that privilege, after serving her for so long?  I wish I knew.  But the time when I will see is fast approaching.  I doubt that I would know what to make of my own fate, were it handed to me.  What else is there, if not to watch and to act?  
  
  \\That's you, the oxymoron to end all others…\\  
  
  //Don't worry Shadi-sama…  It will work out.  I'm sure that the Pharaoh will still have a place for you when he returns.  Even if he doesn't, you'll find something else.//  
  
  \\Yeah, you could always hire yourself out as a doorstop!  You'd be just about as useful as you are now!\\  
  
  //Stop that, leave Shadi-sama alone!  Everything will be all right…//  
  
  \\Oh, will it?  You should know better than to listen to such a weak figment of your imagination!  You're nuttier than a fruitcake and you know it, you useless lump!\\  
  
  //I'm not a figment of his imagination!  Don't pester poor Shadi-sama like this!  He has enough to worry about.//  
  
  \\Yeah, I guess talking to himself gives the loser enough trouble!\\  
  
  I thought I heard a rude laugh followed by some yelling, but I may have been mistaken.  
  
  Back in my home country, I headed out across the quickly heating sands to pray at the ancient temples.  I pray to Thoth for wisdom and understanding.  I pray to Ma'at for balance and judgment.  And I pray to Anubis for guidance when the Underworld rises up to meet me. Derisive laughter and words of reassurance echo in my mind.  
  
-  
  
Owari , The End, and that is all.  Please enjoy your trip through this door.  
  
Thoth is the ibis-headed god of wisdom.  Ma'at is the goddess of balance and justice associated with the Scales.  Anubis is the jackal-headed god of the dead who guides Ra and Set through the Underworld at night. 


End file.
